John Leech
Technologist - Bioprocessing and FermentationResearch Interests
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My research interests span fermented foods, such as kombucha, milk- and water-kefir, plant-based proteins, and precision fermentation, complemented by a strong background in bioinformatics. I specialize in deciphering the intricate microbial communities involved in fermentation processes, utilizing bioinformatic tools to analyse genomic and metagenomic data. Furthermore, I employ a range of bioreactors, from small-scale BioLectors to large-scale systems, to scale fermentations effectively. This multidisciplinary approach enables comprehensive exploration of fermentation dynamics, facilitating the optimization of processes for commercial applications and enhancing our understanding of microbial-driven food production. |
Education
BSc in Marine Science (NUIG), MSc in Evolutionary
Biology (UCD), PhD in Microbiology (UCC)
Hughes, G. M., Leech, J., Puechmaille, S. J., Lopez, J. V., & Teeling, E. C. (2018). Is there a link between aging and microbiome diversity in exceptional mammalian longevity?. PeerJ, 6, e4174.
Leech, J., Cabrera-Rubio, R., Walsh, A. M., Macori, G., Walsh, C. J., Barton, W., ... & Cotter, P. D. (2020). Fermented-food metagenomics reveals substrate-associated differences in taxonomy and health-associated and antibiotic resistance determinants. MSystems, 5(6), e00522-20.
Martin, J. G. P., Silva, J. M. M., César, I. C. D. R., da Silva, M., Santana, S. A., Veloso, T. G. R., ... & Cotter, P. D. Seasonal variation in the Canastra cheese mycobiota. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 5437.
Obafemi, Y. D., Oranusi, S. U., Ajanaku, K. O., Akinduti, P. A., Leech, J., & Cotter, P. D. (2022). African fermented foods: overview, emerging benefits, and novel approaches to microbiome profiling. npj Science of Food, 6(1), 15.
Pasolli, E., De Filippis, F., Mauriello, I. E., Cumbo, F., Walsh, A. M., Leech, J., ... & Ercolini, D. (2020). Large-scale genome-wide analysis links lactic acid bacteria from food with the gut microbiome. Nature communications, 11(1), 2610.
Villarreal-Soto, S. A., Bouajila, J., Pace, M., Leech, J., Cotter, P. D., Souchard, J. P., ... & Beaufort, S. (2020). Metabolome-microbiome signatures in the fermented beverage, Kombucha. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 333, 108778.
Walsh, A. M., Leech, J., Huttenhower, C., Delhomme-Nguyen, H., Crispie, F., Chervaux, C., & Cotter, P. D. (2023). Integrated molecular approaches for fermented food microbiome research. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, fuad001. (Joint first author)